The present invention is related to automated retail systems. More particularly, and not by way of limitation, the present invention is directed to a computer-controlled, multi-function device for generating and dispensing cards such as gift cards and loyalty cards and for collecting customer information such as customer contact information and customer satisfaction information.
The issuance of gift certificates has long been a useful way for merchants to increase sales and for customers to provide gifts to other persons. The receiving persons can then redeem the certificates for desired goods and/or services at the merchants who issued the gift certificates. A drawback to this process has been the inconvenience of having to purchase the certificate at a point-of-sale (POS) terminal at the merchant's location. This process often involves waiting for a sales person to become available before the certificate can be purchased and recorded in the merchant's POS system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,652,421 to Veeneman et al. discloses a method and apparatus for generating gift certificates, which provides a kiosk through which a customer may purchase a gift certificate with a credit card. The customer can choose a merchant and a gift certificate value, and the kiosk prints and dispenses the certificate, and notifies the merchant. However, Veeneman still has several shortcomings. First is the large size of the kiosk, which limits its mobility and the number of places where it can be installed. Second, merchants today desire to use plastic programmable gift cards, similar in appearance to credit cards, and Veeneman is only capable of printing paper certificates. Third, Veeneman does not perform any kind of inspection to validate whether the gift certificate printed correctly. Thus, problems may arise if the customer did not receive a properly printed certificate, but was charged for it anyway.
It would be advantageous to have a method and apparatus for generating and dispensing gift cards that overcomes the shortcomings of existing gift certificate systems. The present invention provides such a method and apparatus.
Merchants also find that it increases business to issue loyalty cards to their customers. By offering discounts to customers with loyalty cards, the customers are provided with incentive to return to the issuing merchant each time they shop. Currently, the task of issuing loyalty cards is largely manual. The customer must fill out a form with her personal information. An employee must enter this information into the merchant's point-of-sale (POS) system and link the information to the loyalty card issued to the customer. It would be advantageous to have a method and apparatus for generating and dispensing loyalty cards that overcomes the shortcomings of existing methods of issuing loyalty cards. The present invention provides such a method and apparatus.
It is also known in the art to utilize computer-based devices to collect customer information. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,893,075 to Plainfield et al. discloses a PC-based, interactive, programmable system that induces customers of a restaurant to enter information about themselves or to answer survey questions. The program is run on a PC, and the customer enters the information in data fields displayed on the PC's monitor. The Plainfield system is bulky, however, and is devoted to only this one task.
Likewise, U.S. Pat. No. 6,960,988 to Blink et al. discloses a multi-function customer satisfaction survey device that also functions as a restaurant tip tray and calculator. Survey questions are presented on a display screen, and a survey keypad is used by the customer to enter responses. The responses are stored in a memory in the tray. The trays stack on a base unit that simultaneously collects the responses from the stacked trays, simultaneously programs the stacked trays with survey questions, and simultaneously recharges a battery in each tray. The Blink device, however, is not appropriate for use in some restaurant settings such as fast-food restaurants, or in other retail business establishments where tip trays are not utilized.
What is needed is a multi-function device that overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art. The present invention provides such a device.